Mud pump with demountable and mountable sub-assemblies



Jan. 23, 1968 J. H. WiLSON 3,364,871

MUD PUMP WITH DEMOUNTABLE AND MOUNTABLE SUB-ASSEMBLIES Filed Oct. 24, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet l RT WILSON JOHN U H ENTOR.

HIS AGENT Jan. 23, 1968 J. H. WILSON 3,354,871

MUD PUM P WITH DEMOUNTABLE AND MOUNTABLE SUB-ASSEMBLIES Filed Oct. 24, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 JOHN HART WILSON INVENTOR.

Jan. 23, 1968 J. H. wmsom 3,364,871

MUD PUMP WITH DEMOUNTABLE AND MOUNTABLE SUB-ASSEMBLIES Filed Oct. 24, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 JOHN HART WI INVENTOR.

HIS AGENT Jan. 23, 1968 J. H. WILSON 3,364,871

MUD PUMP WITH DEMOUNTABLE AND MOUNTABLE SUB-ASSEMBLIES Filed Oct. 24, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 O m cu JOHN HART WILSON INVENTOR.

Jan. 23, 1968 J. H. WILSON 3,364,871

MUD PUMP WITH DEMOUNTABLE AND MOUNTABLE SUB-ASSEMBLIES Filed Oct. 24, 1965 '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 JOHN HART WILSON INVENTOR.

HIS AGENT v Jan. 23, 1968 J. H. WILSON 3,364,871

MUD PUMP WITH DEMOUNTABLE AND MOUNTABLE SUB-ASSEMBLIES Filed Oct. 24, 1965 '7 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVEN TOR. JOHN HART WILSON 'I I l I 6 o a; N W

g HIS AGENT Jan. 23, 1968 J. H. WILSON 3,364,871

MUD PUMP WITH DEMOUNTABLE AND MOUNTABLE SUB-ASSEMBLIES Filed Oct, 24, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 JOHN HART WILSCN INVENTOR.

I4 HI AGENT United States Patent Ofilice 3,364,871 Patented Jan. 23, 1968 3,364,871 MUD PUMP WITH DEMOUNTABLE AND MOUNTABLE SUB-ASSEMBLIES John Hart Wilson, Wilson Mfg. Co., P.O. Box 1031, Wichita Falls, Tex. 76307 Filed Oct. 24, 1965, Ser. No. 504,486 2 Claims. (Cl. 103-169) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A heavy duty pump which pumps a large volume of fluid at high pressure, which pump is built in sub-assemblies sufficiently light in weight to be readily transported, by conventional helicopter, to remote and otherwise inaccessible areas, and reassembled in a minimum of time. This pump performs a pumping action which has heretofore been possible only with pumps of very heavy construction, built rigidly on a base.

This invention relates to improvements in pumps and more particularly to high pressure pum'p's for pumping drilling fluid, such as used in the drilling of wells by the rotary drilling method. This pump is a modified form of the pump disclosed in my Patent No. 3,033,124 and utilizes a fluid end similar to that shown in my co-pending application, Ser. No. 227,926, filed Oct. 2, 1962.

Various pumps have been proposed heretofore for use with rotary drilling rigs, but these, for the most part, were made of heavy cast bodies, the fluid ends of which were usually made integral therewith, or in excessively heavy units, which made it necessary to transport such heavy equipment on large trucks, tractors or the like. The fact is that much of the territory in which oil deposits are found is inaccessible by roads, much less by improved highway facilities. Therefore, in order to explore such inaccessible areas, with oil well exploration rigs, and in order to develop the field after the exploration is completed, it is frequently necessary to move the equipment into remote areas by airplane.

However, in remote areas, landing facilities for modern transport planes are usually inadequate, therefore, in order to successfully transport and land heavy oil field equipment into such remote and inaccessible areas, it is necessary to use a helicopter aircraft. Helicopter aircraft are, at present, used to solve many transportation problems, however, it has been found that, if the units being transported, can be maintained within a weight limit of approximately four thousand pounds or less, they can be transported economically in standard type helicopters. It is to this end, therefore, that the present pump is designed so that it may be disassembled into components which may be readily coupled together with a minimum of tools and the pump put into service, which pump will have substantially the same pumping capacity and characteristics as pumps designed in a similar manner,'but which are of unitary construction.

An object of this invention is to provide a relatively heavy duty pump to be used for pumping a large volume of fluid, such as drilling fluid, at high pressure, and at relatively low number of strokes per minute, which pump may be readily separated into components, in a minimum time, with a maximum number of assembled parts in each component, which pump will be operational when re-assembled.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pump of the mud pump type for pumping drilling fluid, which may be readily disassembled into sub-assemblies which are of a weight to be readily transported in a conventional helicopter.

Another object of this invention is to provide a high pressure mud pump, with the dual cylinder type fluid end, which cylinders may have separable connections therebetween to enable the cylinders, with the pistons and valves therein, to be separated and separately transported from place to place.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a dual cylinder pump, commonly known as a duplex type, high pressure mud pump for rotary drilling rigs and the like, the fluid connections of the valve chambers of which are joined together by quick coupling, screwthreaded elements.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a heavy duty, high pressure mud pump for rotary drilling rigs and the like, wherein the entire shaft assembly, including the bearings, may be removed from the crank case housing and transported in assembled relation, without foreign matter or abrasives getting into the bearings and/ or the other mechanism.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a pump which is simple in construction, easy to assemble and to disassemble, and which may be readily transported in disassembled components by helicopter aircraft.

With these objects in mind, and others which will become apparent as the description proceeds, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters designate like parts in the several views thereof, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the pump in assembled condition;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the pump with certain parts thereof being shown in exploded relation with respect to each other;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view of the fluid end of the pump in assembled relation, with parts broken away and other parts being shown in section to bring out the details of construction;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 3, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows, showing the fluid end of the pump in assembled relation, and showing parts as being broken away and parts being shown in section to bring out the details of construction;

FIG. 5 is an end elevational view of the fluid end of the pump, showing the parts thereof in exploded relation with respect to each other, parts being broken away and other parts being shown in section to bring out the details of construction;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 66 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows, and showing the manner of mounting the countershaft within the crankshaft housing;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a bearing cap plate to cover the end of the shaft, as shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an elevational view of the cap plate on the opposite end of the shaft, as shown in FIG. 6, and showing the shaft therein;

FIG. 8A is a perspective view of a split, bearing retainrng ring;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the inlet manifold shown apart from the fluid end;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken on the line 10-10 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; and

FIG. 11 is a top plan view of the crank shaft, bearings, connecting rods, and cross heads assemblyof the pump, shown apart, as a unit, with portions being broken away, and with portions being shown in section, to bring out the details of construction, and showing the relation of the crank shaft assembly to the power end of the pump housing, which housing is shown in dashed outline, and showing the relation of the cross heads to the piston rods, which piston rods are shown in dashed outline.

3 With more detailed reference to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates generally, a skid frame which forms a base upon which a crank case housing 2 is mounted, and upon which base or skid frame 1 a fluid end 4 is mounted..The crank case housing 2 and the fluid end 4,

' of the pump, are joined together in a manner which will be brought out more in detail hereinafter. The crank case housing 2 has a removable countershaft.

The units 1, 2, and 4, as shown in separated, exploded relation in FIG. 2, show the fluid end 4 as separated mediate the longitudinal cylinders 6 and 8 by a high pressure, quick detachable union 10, which joins conduits 12 and 14 together between discharge valve pots 16 and 18. Unions 20 and 22 join the lower manifold 24 to the lower end of valve pots 2'6 and 28, which valve pots are secured to respective cylinders 6 and 8 in a manner such as shown in my co-pending application, Ser. No. 227,926, Method of and Apparatus for Constructing a Fluid End of a Reciprocating Pump, now Patent No. 3,228,348, issued Jan. 11, 1966.

The valve pots 26 and 28 have the usual elements therein, and the respective covers 30 and 32 thereof are screwed in place so as to maintain the assembled valve elements in proper relation during transport and during use.

The valve pots 16 and 18 have the respective covers 17 and 19 screwed thereonto to hold the elements in place in the respective valve pots 16 and 18 during transportation and/ or use. The conduits 12 and 14 are screwthreaded as indicated at 13 and 15 on the respective outer ends, so the discharge conduit may be connected to either the conduit 12 or to the conduit 14, the conduit not being used as a discharge is plugged by a plug P.

The crank case housing 2 has a counter shaft 34 therein, which counter shaft is journaled within bearings 36 and 38, which bearings are within the respective housings 40 and 42, which bearing housings are annular, and each has the outer surface thereof tapered, with the bearing housing 40 having a closure plate 44 on the outer end thereof, and a plate 46 on the inner end thereof. An opening 48 is provided inside crank case housing 2 to receive a lubricant fittting, so that an oil line may be connected thereto to lubricate the bearing 36. The exterior surface of the bearing housing 40 is tapered inwardly, as indicated at 50, to complementally receive a tapered ring 52 in interengaged relation. A split ring 54, such as shown in FIG. 8A, is in bearing relation with the inner face of complementary tapered ring 52, therefore, when bolts 56 are tightened, split rings 54 and 54a will 'bindingly engage the tapered rings 52 and 52a, respectively, and the rings 52 and 52a will bindingly engage the tapered surface of bearing housing 40 to hold the component parts in fixed relation within openings 58 and 58a within crank housing 2. A further ring 60 surrounds the periphery of the outer end of bearing housing 40, which ring 6% has bolts 62 therethrough, which bolts extend through the ring and into the crank case housing 2 to hold the ring 60in secure relation to the crank case housing 2. In this manner, the bearing housing 40 is secured against outward movement by ring 60, and the rings 52 and 52a secure the bearing housings 49 and 42 against inward movement, and since the wedge surfaces between bearing housings 40 and 42 and rings 52 and 52a engage, the bearing housings are held in secure relation with respect to the crank case housing 2. The tapered rings 52 and 52a are held within openings 58 and 58a in adjusted secure relation, until removal thereof is desired.

The split rings 54 and 54a, as shown in FIG. 8A, have the respective bolts 56 and 56a therein. These rings are of the type that, when they are removed, it will enable tapered rings 52 and 52a to disengage from wedging action between tapered surface 50 on bearing housing 40 and the inner surface forming an opening -8 in crank case housing 2. With the removal of bolts 63, the counter-shaft assembly, including bearing housing 49 and the bearings therein, and bearing housing 42 and the bearings therein, may be passed longitudinally through opening 58a; in crank case housing 2, without altering the adjustments of the bearings 36 and 38, and without removing the hearing housing assemblies 40 and 42 from the shaft 34, as the sprockets 35, which are made thereon, are smaller in diarneter than the diameter of opening 58a. The unit thus removed will weigh less than the maximum weight which a helicopter is designed. to lift;

A crank shaft assembly, including associated parts, is indicated at .70, as shown in FIG. 11. The sprocket and crank shaft assembly is designated at 71, the connecting rods 72, bearing assemblies 74 and cross heads 76, are shown in full outline, as a unit 70, FIG. 11, which unit assembly is designed to weigh less than 4,000 lbs., which is less than the weight limit which a helicopter aircraft can safely transport. The entire assembly may be readily removed from the crank case housing 2 by disconnecting connecting rods 33 from the respective cross heads 76. Then, by removal of the crank housing cover 78 slide plates 80, on each side of crank case housing 2 may be readily removed by removing bolts 82 therefrom, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, which will enable the entire crank case assembly, as shown in full outline in FIG. 11 to be removed as a unit. This crank case unit is a fully assembled sub-assembly which may be readily transported and inserted into crank case housing 2 by the inverse procedure. The crank case housing 2 has apertured lugs3 thereon which enable the housing to be readily bolted to skid assembly 1.

The inlet manifold assembly 24 has apertured lugs 25 thereon which enables this assembly 24- to' be readily secured in place to the skid frame or base 1, as shown in FIG. 1. r

. When it isdesired to disassemble the pump, asshown in FIG. 1, the sub-assemblies, comprising skids or base 1,

crank case housing 2, valve pot assemblies 4, of which there are two," as shown in FIG. 5,. inlet manifold assem= bly 24, as shown in FIG. 5, the countershaft assembly, as shown in FIG. 6, and the crank shaft assembly 70, are removed as unit sub-assemblies, as shown in FIGS. 2, 5, 6 and 11.

In this manner, and with the parts so well proportioned, the skid assembly and the inlet manifold assembly can be combined for one helicopter load of less than 4,000

lbs. Each of theother assemblies will be 4,000 lbs. or

less in weight, therefore a pump which weighs from 20,? 000 to 24,000 lbs. can be readily transported by helicopter in six loads, to remote areas, such as jungles, swamps, or into mountain areas.

Having thus clearly shown and described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A reciprocating, duplex, fluid pump for pumping a large volume of drilling fluid under high pressure, which pump has separable, assembled units, which separable assembled units may be quickly assembled into a component pump for a pumping'operation, or disassembled into separable assembled units for transporting by helicopter and the like, which pump comprises: 3

(a) a base, i

(b) a power end detachably connected to said base,

(1) a countershaft and bearing assembly fitted within said power end and being detachably secured therein for removal therefrom as an as- (2) each said elongated steel cylinder having an inlet and an outlet formed in eachend thereof, (d) two inlet valve pots associated with each cylinder of said pair of transversely separable cylinders, each said inlet valve pot having an inlet opening and an outlet opening formed therein,

(1) the outlet opening of each said inlet valve pot being connected in fluid communication with each inlet opening of the respective transversely separable cylinders,

(e) each said inlet valve pot having a threaded connection on the inlet end thereof,

(f) a unitary inlet manifold having four branches thereon, each which branch is adapted to register with the conduit connection on an inlet end of each of said four inlet valve pots,

(1) a screw threaded union on the distal end of each branch of said inlet manifold adjacent the inlet ends of said four inlet valve pots to threadably and complementally connect the inlet ends of the valve pots in fluid communication with adjacent ends of said inlet manifold to maintain the respective transverse separable, elongated steel cylinders in parallel relation,

(2) said inlet manifold havingan inlet opening formed therein,

(g) two discharge valve pots associated with each cylinder of said pair of transversely separable cylinders, each discharge valve pot having an inlet opening and an outlet opening formed therein,

('1) the inlet opening of each said valve pot being connected in fluid communication with the outlet opening of the respective separable cylinders,

(h) a conduit connecting the outlets of the discharge valve pots of each said cylinder,

(1) a transverse conduit extending between and being in fluid communication with each said conduit connecting the outlets of said discharge valve pots of each cylinder, and forming a discharge manifold,

(i) said transverse conduit, between said conduits connecting the outlets of the discharge valve pots of the respective cylinders, comprising separable portions,

(2) a threaded union on adjacent ends of said separable portions of said transverse conduit, which union is adapted to connect adjacent portions of said transverse conduit so as to secure said discharge valve pots and said transversely separable cylinders in fixed relation when said union is fitted in place,

(3) said transverse separable conduit of said discharge manifold having a discharge opening formed in at least one end thereof.

2. A quickly demountable and mountable countershaft, sprocket and bearing assembly for a crank case housing of a mud pump, which housing has transverse, axially aligned, bearing receiving openings formed therein, screw threaded holes formed in said crank case housing and being circumferentially spaced around the respective hearing receiving openings therein, which countershaft, sprocket and bearing assembly comprises:

(a) a removable countershaft assembly, including a sprocket integral therewith,

(b) a pair of bearing housings associated with said countershaft assembly, each said housing having apertures formed therein,

(1) spaced apart bearing assemblies, each including one said housing, assembled on said countershaft assembly for relative rotation with respect thereto, but being fixed against longitudinal movement with respect thereto,

(2) one said bearing housing of said bearing assemblies being of a diameter to pass through said axially aligned, bearing receiving openings in said crank case housing,

(3) the other of said housings of said bearing assemblies, being of a larger diameter than the diameter of the axially aligned, bearing receiving openings in said crank case housing,

(4) each said bearing housing having a taper formed on the outer diameter thereof, which tapers converge inwardly,

(5) the inner diameter of each said bearing housing being cylindrical and adapted to complementally receive a cylindrical bearing therein in close fitting relation,

(6) cylindrical rings, each having a tapered inner bore, each which ring is associated with each tapered bearing housing, with the tapered portions being complementary, the outer diameter of each said ring being in close fitting relation with the respective axially aligned, bearing receiving openings in said crank case housing,

(7) the larger of said bearing housings being secured to said crank case housing by bolts,

(8) a clamp ring, which clamp ring is in bearing relation with the housing of said bearing assembly, the housing of which is of a diameter to pass through the bearing receiving openings in said crank case housing,

(i) said clamp ring being in position to hold said bearing housing against movement with respect to said crank case housing,

(9) a plurality of apertured ring segments, two of which apertured ring segments form a separable, split ring of a larger diameter than the bearing receiving openings in said crank case housing, so each said split ring will be in bearing engagement with the inner ends of each said ring having a tapered inner bore, to form a wedging action between the tapered inner bore of the cylindrical ring and the outer tapered surface of the respective bearing housings,

(i) said apertures in said ring segments being in register with the screw threaded holes in the crank case housing, and

(ii) screw threaded bolts passing through said apertures in said ring segments and threadably engaging said screw threaded holes in said crank case housing to bindingly engage said ring segments with said respective tapered rings to detachably secure said countershaft, sprocket and bearing assembly within said transverse, axially aligned, bearing receiving openings in said crank case housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 787,117 4/ 1905 Scholl 103170 1,944,364 1/1934 Packer 308236 2,217,287 10/ 1940 McNew 103-175 2,883,874 4/1959 Bynum 103-169 X 2,954,918 10/1960 Mueller 230-184 X 2,962,975 12/1960 Camp 103-175 3,033,124 5/1962 Wilson 103216 3,23 8,604 3/1966 Reimarz 103170 X FOREIGN PATENTS 818,664 8/ 1959 Great Britain.

DONLEY J. STOCKING, Primary Examiner.

WILLIAM L. FREEH, Examiner. 

